Farr 40 2010 Peppers Anchorage regatta - Icy Blasts stop Farr 40's

by Sail-World.com on 16 Oct 2010 Farr 40 2010 Peppers Anchorage regatta -Port Stephens. With snow falling in the Blue Mountains and winds overnight reaching 40 knots, the crews from the Farr 40 fleet scheduled to race on Port Stephens today could do nothing but watch the whitecaps.

Principal Race Officer Denis Thomson hoisted the AP, the Postponement flag at the 2010 Peppers Anchorage F40 regatta breeze this morning with an icy 30-40 knots blasting from the west.

Dogs off chains was a total understatement at Port Stephens today with the forecast 30+knot westerly arriving in the early hours of Saturday and hanging around for the entire day while teams sat on the shore keeping a close eye on boats as they strained on every dock line being used to keep them from taking off on their own.

The race committee hoisted the postponement flag at 9am today and have been observing multiple forecasts all day and with the breeze consistently above 28 knots and gusts of 40+ knots racing at the Peppers Anchorage Farr 40 regatta has been cancelled for today.

'After waiting all day for the wind to abate we have cancelled racing. 'We had hoped the breeze would moderate by now, but its obvious it is not likely to drop anytime soon' said Thompson as he abandoned the days racing at 1500.

'The westerly is really piping in Port Stephens. It’s looking good for racing tomorrow and we hope to get two or three races done to wrap up the regatta', commented PRO Denis Thompson.

Racing concludes tomorrow and the forecast is for westerly winds 20 to 25 knots tending southwesterly 10 to 20 knots during the morning then tending southeasterly up to 10 knots later in the evening. Seas up to 2 metres with a southerly swell of approx. 2 metres.

Provisional Results after 3 races:

1 Transfusion Guido Belgiorno Nettis MHYC 5
2 Estate Master Lisa & Martin Hill MHYC 5
3 Easy Tiger II Chris Way RPAYC 11
4 Kokomo Lang Walker YCCS/NYYC 12
5 Twin Edake Jeff Carter MHYC 14
6 Anger Management Phil Arnall NCYC 20

The 2011 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship will take place February 23-26 at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron (RSYS), in Sydney, Australia. Immediately preceding the Worlds, the RSYS will host the Australian Championship from February 18-20.